Thursday, April 22, 2010

Anniversary: Beer saga #100

This is the 100th post here at Beer Sagas, and I will do a presentation of some Norwegian pale lagers. Some are interesting, some are boring and some are new in the shops this year. But as far as I know, they are not available outside Norway.

I will start with a beer that has been on the market for more than 20 years. If you buy it is shops, Hansa fatøl is only available in cans these days. Fatøl means draught beer, and it is quite an inconsistency calling a canned beer fatøl. In the glass this is a fizzy beer with a medium sized head which dissolves quickly. There are some flowers and sweetness in the nose. In the mouth I feel some malts and hints of sweetness. It has a half bitter finish with a watery feeling. It is a nice session beer, but it will fall through in competition with for instance Czech golden lagers.

Lade Gaards Brygghus Pilsner looks wonderful in the shops. It is a nice looking bottle with a beautiful oldschool label with an interesting writeup about Norwegian medieval history in general and Lade in particular.The beer is brewed by Grans brewery of Sandefjord. Grans is infamous in Norway for its cheap lagers, and some of them are absolutely not to be recommended.

Lade Gaards Brygghus Pilsner is brewed by barley and Czech saaz hops. The water used is from the famous Norwegian well Farris. I must say that this made me very interested in the beer. The nose is flowery, but the taste was not very good. There is a nasty metallic taste to the fore. Yuk! There are also some malts and hints of hops before a watery feeling takes over.

This is a boring lager that I will not spend money on in the future.

Ringnes is Norway's largest brewery. It has several beers on the market, and Skjærgårdspils is a seasonal offering meant for Summer. The name can freely be translated to English as "coastal pils". In the glass this is a pale lager with some carbonation. There is very little aroma, and the same goes for the taste: Some malts, a hint of bitterness and that is all. Another boring lager, but it will probably be a good session beer for a long night of eating fresh prawns and crabs.

Ringnes Classic is based on an old recipe. It is a golden lager with a solid and large head. There is some carbonation, and in the mouth I feel yeast and some malt. In the mouth, this lager beer has a feeling of bread and sweetness dancing with hops. This is a very good lager beer that is among the better offers from Ringnes.

With this being post number 100, it is time to look forward. What is to expect? Well, there will be updates now and then, but I can not promise how regularly. I also have a large backlog of tasting notes right now, and I hope to get up to date soon. I am not through with posting from my visit to the Czech Republic last month, and there are also some Norwegian pubs I have visited during the last few weeks. Therefore you can expect a combination of posts with focus on Czech and Norwegian beers in the next month.

I enjoy writing this blog, and I would like to thank all of you readers for taking the time to read it. Cheers, everybody!

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